The present invention relates to a method and a system for discovering the topology of the communications between applications of a computer network.
The conventional mechanisms for discovering the topology of a network usually make it possible to obtain the topology from a level-1 viewpoint according to the OSI classification, i.e. the physical topology of the network: the different elements constituting the network as well as the way in which they are connected to each other, by cables for example. Other mechanisms also make it possible to obtain the topology from the viewpoint of layer-2 of the OSI model, i.e. defining with which items of equipment a given element is capable of communicating directly. Other mechanisms make it possible to discover the topology of layer-3 of the OSI network model, i.e. the different sub-networks existing as well as the manner in which they are interconnected.
However, the present invention relates to the discovery of the topology of level-7 of the OSI network model, i.e. the topology of the communications between the applications executed on the items of equipment of the network.
Conventional methods of discovery of the topology of the communications between applications use a passive probe within the network, i.e. the latter has no interaction with the network. It simply captures the different communications carried out within the network and by analyzing these communications, tries to discover the list of applications on the network as well as the links between them. Nevertheless, this method has a number of drawbacks. In fact, the probe must be arranged at a point of the network through which all the communications pass, in order to be able to create the topology of the whole network. If there is no point of this type, it therefore becomes necessary to use several probes which must work together in order to enable the network to be fully characterized. Moreover, the probe(s) are only aware of the communications between the applications, they are therefore not capable of retrieving certain information which does not pass through the network, such as for example the name of the application, the execution time, memory used, etc. Similarly, due to the lack of information, the probe(s) are not capable of distinguishing two identical applications located on the same item of equipment of the network.
The purpose of the present invention is to overcome the above-mentioned drawbacks by proposing a novel method for discovering the topology of the communications of the applications on a network.